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November 16, 2017

Govt will grade 9,000 childcare centres for better facilities

<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) on Wednesday announced that it will grade over 9,000 Child Care Institutions (CCI) across the country on the basis of several parameters. The move follows a Supreme Court directive and is likely to be announced by the end of the year.The grading of the CCIs will be carried out in three categories — platinum, gold and silver and it will be done on the basis of the presence of facilities like clean and functional toilets, kitchens and counselling for the children.”The idea is to infuse a sense of competition among the CCIs and also identify the ones where children are kept in abysmal conditions,” said WCD secretary Rakesh Srivastav. He added that the ministry has already carried out a survey of all the CCIs.Srivastav said that CCIs that do not register under the government will be shut down, and in case a CCI shuts down, the state government will be responsible for the children in the CCI. He added that WCD minister Maneka Gandhi has also written to the CMs of several states to ensure that CCIs in their respective states comply.The Kerala state government had earlier appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay on an order issued by the WCD ministry, as part of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016, which said that every CCI in the country will need to register under the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The matter is currently being argued, and an official from the NCPCR said that with the SC’s directive, the Centre will ask the apex court to quash the kerala government’s plea.Grading criteriaThe grading of the CCIs will be carried out in three categories — platinum, gold and silver It will be done on the basis of the presence of facilities like clean and functional toilets